Appetites®

Appetites: The connection between Iran and tea

On display this weekend at the Iranian Culture Festival

a traditional Iranian tea setup with a samovar and tea cups
A traditional Iranian tea setup features a large samovar in the middle that holds the tea.
Courtesy of Ghazaleh Dadres with the Twin Cities Iranian Culture Collective

For Iranians, drinking tea — and the community and conversation that is raised around it — has become a cornerstone of the country's culture. It's a custom the Twin Cities Iranian Culture Collective plans to highlight in the Twin Cities on Sunday. They'll have a chaikhaneh (the Farsi word for teahouse) at the Iranian Culture Festival at the Landmark Center in downtown St. Paul.

On this week’s Appetites, MPR News host Tom Crann was joined by Ghazaleh Dadres, a board member with the Twin Cities Iranian Culture Collective, who shared how the art of drinking tea has played a role in her life as an Iranian.